The White House said that US President Joe Biden expressed, in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Monday evening, his support for the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians, at a time when Netanyahu said he was determined to "complete the goal."
Biden affirmed what he called "Israel's right to defend itself," and his condemnation of what he described as the indiscriminate missile attacks by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israeli towns, according to a White House statement.
However, the statement added that the US President "expressed his support for the ceasefire and discussed the United States' engagement with Egypt and other partners for this purpose."
The White House stated that Biden encouraged Israel to "take all possible measures to ensure the protection of innocent civilians."
The US President also expressed his "grave concern" about "violence among the population in Israel."
For its part, the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that Netanyahu told Biden that he was "determined to complete the goal of the operation to restore security to the citizens of Israel."